Daniel Ortega

b.1945Daniel Ortega is the leader of the Nicaraguan opposition party FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front) or Sandinistas When the Sandinistas assumed power in 1979 after ousting the Somoza dictatorship, Ortega became leader of the country. He was elected president of Nicaragua in 1984, but lost the ensuing election to Violeta Chamorro in 1990.

Ortega's socialist reforms and Marxist ideology did not sit well with the United States. Ronald Reagan as U.S. President led a campaign of economic and military sanctions against the Sandinista-led government. This would eventually lead to the Iran-Contra scandal, Oliver North as a household name, and ultimately to the defeat of Ortega in the 1990 Nicaraguan elections.